


let's get moving

by healing



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Gen, M/M, Post-True Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 21:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4720529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/healing/pseuds/healing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>when elle crouches down to her knees and weeps, alvin lets her, because he knows they'll be there to pick her back up again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	let's get moving

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jonphaedrus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonphaedrus/gifts).
  * Inspired by [we'll make pretend that you and me lived ever after happily](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4718960) by [jonphaedrus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonphaedrus/pseuds/jonphaedrus). 



> bits and pieces of headcanon stolen from driftwoodq's beautiful fic. just a note: part one is out of order, seeing as spyrites don't come into the picture until later.

"alvin, has anyone ever told you how good you are with children?" jude asks one day, glancing away from a thick stack of papers and adjusting his glasses, lips curved into a soft smile.

alvin tilts his head with a hum. "no, can't say i've heard that one before. what's up, jude? you want kids or something? i think all the spyrites we have running around are more than enough."

jude stifles a laugh behind a delicate hand. "no, nothing like that. i guess i'd just never expected it from you, you know? it's surprisingly sweet."

"hey, what's that supposed to mean?" alvin glares, his voice teasing, but there's pink blooming on his cheeks and when he moves in to ruffle jude's hair, the matter is dropped.

\---

ludger has been... gone for a little over two months, and alvin takes elle along on random odd jobs and business trips whenever he can. she seems cheerful enough when she's with him, and he never brings ludger up, never treats elle like she's a fragile piece of glass that will break at any moment. asking her if she's alright won't make it any better — alvin knows that much better than anyone else.

of course it isn't alright, but in time, elle will heal. he did. all alvin can do is look after her and make sure she knows that she has a place here, that they need her. all he can do is protect her with everything he has.

when elle crouches down to her knees and weeps, alvin lets her, because he knows they'll be there to pick her back up again.

\---

elle ends up moving in with elize and driselle. with cline gone and rowen working alongside gaius, alvin figures it'd been harder for driselle than she'd cared to admit, but having elize there helps, and adding elle to their makeshift little family helps even more.

every time alvin sees elize, she looks a little older, more and more beautiful with every passing day. she starts wearing things besides the frilly dresses she wore when she was twelve, starts painting her lips different shades of pink and dabbing powder on her nose. elize is starting her freshman year of high school in a week, and alvin can't believe that this is the same girl jude found cooped up in a shed with a talking doll, holding her trembling hands over her head.

"looks like the little lady is finally becoming a woman! but just remember: no boys allowed, got it? i don't want to have to pull out a weapon on him."

"alvin!" elize glares up at him and puffs out her cheeks, a habit she never did grow out of. "i'm fourteen years old! all the _other_ girls in class have boyfriends, so... so that means that i'm allowed to have one, too!" she trails off, fiddling with her thumbs. she doesn't seem to sound as confident as she'd like to.

"sorry, princess, but i'm not bending the rules on this one. and just what _boy_ do you have your eye on, anyway?" alvin raise an eyebrow.

"hey!" elle suddenly pipes up before elize can stutter out a response, peering at them from behind a giggling driselle. "i'm a woman, too, you know! it's not just elize!"

alvin rubs the back of his neck and chuckles, low in his throat. "right, right. sorry, elle. my bad. cut me a break just this once, okay?"

she crosses her arms defiantly and sticks her tongue out before adjusting her backpack. "i _guess_ i'll let it slide, but don't you forget it!"

at ten years old, elle is starting fifth grade, too. it'll be the first time she's ever gone to school. it doesn't take a genius to realize that victor never let her.

with everything elle's been through, sometimes it's hard to remind himself that she's still just a kid. alvin sure as hell didn't feel like one at her age.

\---

she almost always has ludger's twin blades attached to her hip. jude thinks she's too young to be carrying them.

"alvin, what if she gets hurt? it's too dangerous. she's been through so much, she shouldn't have to—"

alvin hushes him with a hand on his shoulder and a crooked grin that he hopes is reassuring. "she doesn't _have to_ do anything. she's fifteen, jude. elize was with us when she was _twelve,_ and _you_ were getting your medical degree, mr. honors student."

jude rubs his temples and hangs his head. "are you _ever_ going to stop calling me that?"

"not a chance," alvin smirks, and then there's a pause. "elle will be fine. she's tough. she's made it this far."

jude still looks a little skeptical until alvin adds, "and i'll be keeping an eye on her, too," and presses a kiss to jude's lips.

\---

he hears her talking to ludger, sometimes. milla, too, her milla, and even julius — alvin doesn't think elle understood anything about him until she realized what he did to create their perfect world. alvin sure as hell never cared for him much.

he doesn't listen in on those talks — it isn't his place, and it's between her and ludger — but there are times he can't help but overhear bits and pieces despite himself.

"ludger," elle murmurs, staring up at the stars dotting the clear night sky, "i'm doing my best, okay? not just for you, but for milla, too. even for glasses guy. wherever you are, i hope you guys are together. you and glasses guy really loved each other, didn't you? maybe it would have been kind of nice to have him as a big brother."

 _and because of me, you're both..._ goes unsaid, but alvin isn't deaf or blind. of course she blames herself. of course.

he can hear her take a deep, shuddering breath before pressing on. "but don't worry about me. i know you're looking out for me, so i'll never stop doing my best. sometimes it's hard, and sometimes it's a little scary, too... i know i said i wasn't scared of anything, but the truth is, i was always lying. i bet you figured that out, huh? you're really smart."

elle laughs, and alvin knows he should leave.

"but when i remember what you did for me, i'm not so scared anymore. after all, we made a promise, right?"

alvin gets it. even after all this time, he still talks to leticia, too. he talks about jude and his spyrite research, about how much elympios has changed since she's been gone, about the huge tree outside the apartments in trigleph elle and pollo climb up — about how safe and warm jude makes him feel, about how he finally found a place with him even though he still thinks he doesn't quite deserve it. he talks about milla, whose strength and unfaltering determination has inspired alvin to push on even when he wanted to give up. he talks about leia and her never-ending optimism, her infectious bright smile. he talks about rowen and gaius and the peace settling over elympios and rieze maxia. he wishes she was alive to see it — he can't imagine the look on her face.

there are those rare times he talks to presa — to _jill,_ too. alvin will never stop apologizing, but he tells jill that he hopes he's managed to turn his life around. he can never undo the past, but he's living a future he hopes jill would be proud of.

on nights like those, when there's no inn in sight and alvin has to set up camp, elle curls up next to him and sleeps by his side. neither of them ever say a word. they just sleep.

\---

"let's go, pollo," elle says, lips curved into a hopeful smile. she glances up at the cloudless sky, pollo trailing behind her, and rollo closes his eyes.


End file.
